In the early morning hours of Saturday, November 19, 2011 a young woman’s mangled body was found in the road on the interstate in West Virginia. A 911 call came through at 3:41 am & the motorist indicated that they saw a car broken down near mile marker 181 in the northbound lanes of Interstate 77 near Parkersburg, West Virginia. He said the car was against the guardrail & he suspected that something was going on over there. The man didn’t identify himself & the recording ended.
Seven minutes later at 3:48 am, a second call came in & a truck driver who was driving with his son said he believed he saw a human being lying in the road, but he held out hope that it was only a deer. The caller soon confirmed that it was a human body & the dispatcher asked if he wanted to check if the person was still alive or breathing. This was when he told the dispatcher that the victim’s remains were scattered across the road which clearly wouldn’t be consistent with life. The caller said he wanted to start stopping traffic because it was his belief that this was likely a crime scene. He & other motorists utilized flashlights & attempted to stop traffic until authorities arrived.
Investigators soon learned that the victim was 20-year-old Jaleayah Davis & eventually, her death was ruled accidental. However, based on evidence found at the scene, Jaleayah’s family believed that someone had murdered her. Nearly thirteen years have passed since Jaleayah’s tragic & puzzling death & her family is still holding out hope that they will eventually get justice.
Jaleayah Rose Davis was born on November 2, 1991 in Colorado Springs, Colorado to her mother Kim Davis. Eighteen months later, Jaleayah’s sister, Taubianna “Taubi” was born & the two were raised by their mother with the help of close family. As a young girl, Jaleayah was described as shy & soft-spoken & someone that everyone adored.
At some point, the family relocated from Colorado to Marietta, Ohio & as Jaleayah entered her teenage years, her shy nature faded away & she was a popular girl with a large circle of friends. In 2009 she graduated from Marietta High School & worked at a nearby Hollister store with Taubi as she prepared for what her future held, having dreams of one day becoming a cosmetologist. Taubi & Jaleayah were inseparable & were each other’s best friends. Despite their close gap in age, Jaleayah was fiercely protective of her younger sister. The two confided in each other & often spent much of their time together, but like typical siblings, they did have their share of disagreements when they were younger.
On Friday, November 18, 2011, Jaleayah left the home she shared with Taubi at about 5 pm to head over to her friend Kristin Bechtold’s house. The two met through mutual friends in nearby Williamstown, West Virginia & had known each other for a long time, but had only begun to hang out in the past one to two months. According to Kristin, Jaleayah arrived at about 7 pm & they baked cookies, showered & got ready to go over to their friend Brian’s house where they arrived at about 9:30-10 pm.
Jaleayah last texted with her mom Kim at about 9 pm when Kim told her that she loved her & asked her daughter to be good & not to make her worry.
There were others gathered at Brian’s house that included Jordan Campbell & Freddie Scott. The group played beer pong while Jaleayah & Kristin watched & did shots of vodka. According to Kristin, she had taken about 14-15 shots while Jaleayah had taken at least 16. It can be noted that according to Jaleayah’s driver’s license which was issued on April 20, 2011, seven months earlier, she was 5’5” & weighed 110#.
Kristin said she worried that Jaleayah would get too drunk so she tried to take the shot glasses away from her. She said that each time she did, Jaleayah would just take the glasses back & continue to do shots. However, according to Kristin she herself “wasn’t really that drunk” & she also didn’t believe Jaleayah to be that drunk. Kristin did mention that the fact that Jaleayah took the shot glasses back from her made her believe that she might have been a little drunk since it was uncharacteristic of her.
Kristin & Jaleayah left Brian’s house with Freddie Scott & Jordan Cambell & stopped off at a market to get another bottle of vodka with Freddie driving. Then they headed over to Hardees to pick up Kristin’s friend Katy Nelson & went back to Brian’s house.
They eventually left Brian’s house again, this time heading to Nip N Cue, a bar in Parkersburg, West Virginia where they arrived somewhere between 12-1 am. Freddie drove the group which consisted of Kristin, Jaleayah, Freddie & Katy & Jaleayah left her car back at Brian’s. Kristin said that Jaleayah was wearing a black tank top, jeans & heels. Kristin recognized that Jaleayah was drunk but not to the extent that she was stumbling or slurring her words. She noticed that she was trying to dance up to Katy’s ex-boyfriend, Chris Lattimer, who was also at the bar that night. They were also talking very closely & she said that when Katy saw this, she got aggravated.
Kristin said that she tried to take Jaleayah’s wristlet from her for safekeeping, but she wouldn’t give it to her. They stayed at the bar until about 3:10 am, now in the early morning hours of Saturday, November 19, 2011. Freddie drove the group back to Brian’s with Kristin in the passenger seat & Jaleayah & Katy in the backseat. They arrived at about 3:30 am & sat in the driveway discussing what they wanted to do next. They didn’t go back inside Brian’s house & it turned out that he wasn’t home at the time as he was at another local bar that stayed open until 4 am.
Kristin said that Jaleayah was talking to a guy on the phone & telling him that she couldn’t find her wristlet. She was getting frustrated because she assumed that Kristin must have done something with it since she was trying to take it earlier that night. Jalaeyah was blaming her for the fact that the wristlet was missing, but Kristin assured her that she didn’t have it. She helped Jaleayah find the wristlet & her car keys & the group made the decision to just go home since it was so late.
Kristin said she assumed that Jaleayah was going to come with them, but instead she called Taubi & told her she needed a ride home. Kristin said that as they all got out of Freddie’s car, she continued to confirm with Jaleayah that Taubi was truly going to come get her & that Jaleayah wasn’t going to drive. Kristin said she was not going to allow her friend to drive, knowing how much alcohol she had consumed that night. According to Kristin, she overheard Jaleayah tell Taubi, I need you to come pick me up. I will explain what is going on when you get here. She said that Jaleayah was not upset with her & there was no argument that happened between them other than Jaleayah being annoyed about her wristlet.
According to Kristin, she, Katy & Freddie left Brian’s house at about 3:40 am after Jaleayah assured her that Taubi was going to pick her up & as they pulled away, Jaleayah was sitting in her car waiting. At 3:50 am, Taubi called Kristin & asked where Jaleayah was & Kristin told her that she was waiting for her at Brian’s house. Taubi explained that she wasn’t able to get in touch with her sister so Kristin began calling Jaleayah, but there was no answer. In the meantime, Freddie drove her & Katy to McDonald’s before taking them straight back to her house.
While they were still in Freddie’s car, Kristin spoke with Taubi again at about 3:53 am & heard her say, Oh my God & then the line cut off. Kristin tried calling her back, but she didn’t answer. Taubi didn’t call Kristin back until 4:16 am & when she did, she was hysterical & told Kristin that Jaleayah had been hit by a car; they found Jaleayah’s car, but were unable to find Jaleayah. Taubi told Kristin that there were a bunch of police on the scene at the time.
When an officer asked Kristin what she believed happened to her friend, she theorized that Jaleayah had crashed her car into the guardrail on the interstate, got out of the car & began to walk out of fear that she could get DUI. As she walked along the dark road wearing dark clothing, a car may have accidentally hit her. When the officer asked Kristin what she felt about the rumors that were cycling around & the fact that she had been chosen as a scapegoat, she said she had no idea why. The officer referenced the fact that Kristin was being accused of beating Jaleayah up & pushing her from the car. Kristin assured the officer that she was a good friend of Jaleayah’s & she would have never done anything like that.
According to Taubi, Jaleayah called her at 3:28 am & asked her if she & her friend could come pick her up at the BP gas station. Taubi could hear Jaleayah asking Kristin for her keys, but she didn’t know exactly where they were at this time.
Jaleayah called back at 3:33 am to make sure that they were on their way & told Taubi to meet her at the rest stop in Williamstown by the Go-Mart which was closer to home rather than at the BP gas station as originally planned. When Taubi asked her where she was, she said that she was on the interstate & Taubi made the assumption that Jaleayah was alone since she didn’t hear anyone else in the background.
Taubi said that during this second call that came through at 3:33 am, Jaleayah sounded mad & she told her that she & Kristin had gotten into an argument. Jaleayah vented to Taubi about Kristin & accused her of being a bad friend & when Taubi asked her what happened she said that she would explain when they picked her up. Taubi said that Jaleayah burst into tears to the point that she described her as hysterical.
Review of Jaleayah’s phone showed that she also called Taubi at 3:36 am & the call lasted 26 seconds but Taubi said she had her phone on her at that time & it never rang; she only spoke to Jaleayah twice at 3:28 am & 3:33 am.
Only five minutes after the third call was placed from Jaleayah’s phone, the first 911 call came through at 3:41 am. The caller told the dispatcher that there was a car broken down on I-77 north near mile marker 181. The lights were on, the car was against the guardrail, the caller didn’t see anyone but told the dispatcher, something’s going on there. The call ended before the dispatcher could obtain the name of the male caller.
A second 911 call came through seven minutes later at 3:48 am which was 15 minutes after Taubi last spoke with her sister. A truck driver indicated that he may have seen a body in the road, but because it was dark outside, he couldn’t be completely sure. As he spoke with the dispatcher, he was walking in the direction of what he had seen & as he got closer, he confirmed that yes, it was the body of a human in the road.
The caller referred to the victim as “he”, unable to verify the gender of the victim due to the gruesome nature of the scene. Jaleayah was naked from the waist up, her head was no longer attached to her body, her right breast was missing & one leg was broken with the bone visible. She wore only her jeans & underwear; her shoes, bra, shirt, coat & shoes were not in place.
Unexplainably, her clothing was found draped over the guardrail post, her bra at the bottom, her black top was draped over that & her white coat was on top. The truck driver said that he had not touched the clothing & he had not approached Jaleayah’s car which was located 2/10 of a mile ahead from where her mangled body lay.
The car was up against the guardrail, in gear & running, the doors were locked, the headlights on. Jaleayah’s car did not automatically lock & the lock button would have to be pressed from the inside. The car had not traveled a straightaway & would have traveled uphill & maneuvered around two curves to make it to the location where it ultimately stopped. All of Jaleayah’s personal belongings, including her phone & wristlet were inside. Within minutes of the call, deputies arrived on scene & closed off the interstate.
In the meantime, Taubi was on her way to get Jaleayah & as she & her friend rounded a curve on the interstate, they came upon emergency vehicles. This was at 3:53 am when Taubi was on the phone with Kristin & Kristin recalled hearing Taubi say, Oh my God, as the line disconnected. Kristin called Taubi again at 4:07 am & 4:09 am to find out what was going on, but Taubi hung up on her. Kristin texted Taubi at 4:49 am & asked her what was going on. She texted again later that morning at 10:06 am, asking Taubi if she was awake & if everything was okay. There were also several missed calls from Kristin.
After Taubi pulled over, shei & her friend approached officers & asked them what happened. They were told that a woman’s body was found on the road; it was an African-American woman & there was a white peacoat present at the scene. Taubi immediately knew that it must be her big sister.
In a state of panic, Taubi immediately called her mom who had been fast asleep. When Kim answered the phone, she heard Taubi hysterically crying as she told her that Jaleayah was dead. Kim & her father immediately set out & met Taubi on the interstate & were faced with the devastating news when authorities confirmed that the victim was Jaleayah. Taubi was stunned, she had only just spoken to her sister minutes earlier & could not believe that her best friend in life was gone in such a traumatic & brutal way.
Investigators spoke with the family on the scene & speculated that Jaleayah’s death was likely a result of a horrific car accident & there didn’t seem to be any other cars involved in the accident.
Investigators speculated that Jaleayah had gotten distracted which caused her to strike the guardrail. They mentioned that the dome light was on inside her car which indicated that she was likely looking for something as she drove. Her family argues that at the time they pulled up to the scene, Jaleayah’s car was dark inside & they were adamant that the dome light was off as they would have noticed that detail since it was dark outside.
As more evidence was gathered, the family’s confusion only grew. The damage found to the passenger side of Jaleayah’s car was not consistent with the horrific injuries observed to her body. Her car looked as if it could have been driven away from the scene. Scrapes from the guardrail ran down the side of the car & there was damage to the passenger side front corner of the car.
Evidence indicated that Jaleayah’s car struck the guardrail by mile marker 181 on I-77 which caused her to be ejected from the passenger side window. Blood evidence indicated that after her body was ejected from the car, she struck a guardrail post which caused her body to roll over the roof of her car & into the traffic lane of I-77 where her body was then struck by multiple tractor-trailers traveling northbound on I-77.
Blood spatter was found on the back roof of the car toward the back window as well as the trunk of the car, but there were no dents to those areas of the car. The Davis family found this strange & wondered how an adult’s body could strike these areas without leaving any damage. There was a spider web crack to the windshield on the passenger side which is typically seen in cases where a victim has struck their head against the windshield with force. The driver’s side airbag had deployed & the passenger door window had broken out. There was no blood found inside the car. The passenger side airbag had not deployed which concluded that she had been traveling alone.
Jaleayah’s family couldn’t comprehend her death. Beyond their shock & grief at the sudden loss of Jaleayah, they felt unsettled by evidence they saw at the scene. Later that morning, after officials left the scene, Jaleayah’s grandfather returned to inspect the scene & take photos. He noticed what he believed was a girl’s footprint in the gravel by the guardrails. He also found the hood from Jaleayah’s coat covered in blood on the other side of the guardrail, down a grassy embankment. A metal earring that Jaleayah had been wearing was found 18 feet from where it was determined that Jaleayah’s head initially struck the guardrail post, instantly killing her.
Even more confusing, why was Jaleayah naked from the waist up & how had her clothing been layered over the guardrail, eight posts farther down from the post that her head had struck & fatally wounded her? To many, it appeared as if someone had placed these items there.
When investigators went to Kristin’s house to obtain information about the night of Jaleayah’s death, her dad informed them that she did not want to talk & provided them with the contact information for their lawyer. The Davis family soon learned that Kristin had obtained a lawyer within twelve hours of her friend’s death which they found exceptionally odd. Why wouldn’t Kristin want to provide details from that night if she had nothing to hide? Two days later on November 22, 2011, Kristin’s lawyer contacted investigators to arrange a meeting.
Based on what Kristin said, Jaleayah had consumed 16 shots of vodka prior to even going out to the bar after leaving Brian’s house. This would be equivalent to a 750mL bottle of vodka which was highly questionable & unlikely based on Jaleayah’s small stature. Kristin also indicated that despite this quantity of alcohol, Jaleayah didn’t seem overly drunk; she wasn’t stumbling or slurring her words. The Davis family also wondered why Jaleayah had been so upset that night, why she changed the location of where Taubi was going to pick her up.
They also noted that Jaleayah’s favorite keychain was missing when her car was found; it was a jewel encrusted “J” that Taubi had given her for her birthday & it was always attached to her keys. Within days of Jaleayah’s death, a friend of hers saw that Kristin had the keychain & she indicated that Jaleayah gave it to her. This made absolutely no sense to Jaleayah’s family since they couldn’t imagine why she would have suddenly taken it off her keychain & given it to Kristin.
As word of Jaleayah’s death spread through the small town of Marietta, rumors quickly began to grow as people discussed the horrific & suspicious findings at the scene.
The sheriff’s department launched an investigation, calling the case “suspicious.” On November 28, 2011, Jaleayah’s car was transferred to the state crime lab for further examination.
Evidence from the case was gathered & sent to the West Virginia State Police forensic laboratory. An engineer from Kia Motors inspected Jaleayah’s car, the sheriff’s department utilized an outside expert who has taught crash reconstruction at the police academy to review initial findings of the crash investigation. It was concluded that Jaleayah’s death was the result of a tragic single-vehicle accident that claimed her life.
In February 2012, a Marietta woman named Ember Stafford came forward & indicated that she had been driving on the interstate that night & witnessed Jaleayah fighting with three people. She said that Jaleayah got into her car while the other three got into another car & began chasing her. The woman went on to file a police report of what she saw & was eventually given a polygraph test which is when it was discovered that she lied. The woman was charged with lying to police & making a false police report & was sentenced to six months in jail & a $500 fine.
In March of 2013, sixteen months after Jaleayah’s death, the autopsy & toxicology reports were released. Toxicology reports concluded that her blood alcohol level was 0.19%, more than twice the legal limit & her vitreous alcohol level (obtained from the fluid from the middle of the eye) was 0.24%. It was at this time that the Wood County Sheriff’s Office closed its investigation into the death of Jaleayah Davis after it was ruled accidental by the state Medical Examiner’s Office with alcohol playing a contributing role. The Wood County Sheriff’s Office indicated that they spent hundreds of hours investigating the case & followed numerous leads which all brought negative results.
In terms of the finding of Jaleayah’s clothing hanging over the guardrail, it was theorized that as her body went across the rail, it ripped the clothing from her body. Her shoes also came off from the impact.
Investigators determined that on the night of Jaleayah’s death, she drove her Kia Optima in a heavily intoxicated state, down the interstate at about 70 mph when she struck the guardrail on the right passenger side, making the initial impact on the front right headlight. Jaleayah was not wearing a seatbelt & the impact caused her body to be thrown across her car where she was ejected from the right passenger window as this was the only window that had been broken out. As this was happening, her driver’s side airbag deployed. As she was ejected from the passenger door window, her body hit two posts on the guardrail which caused her body to flip over the car.
In regards to Jaleayah’s missing “J” initial keychain, the Davis family didn’t get the keychain back until after the case was closed & they had to retrieve it through Kristin’s lawyer. Kristin also sent a Tweet after Jaleayah’s death that read: I would probably be blamming me too, if I’m the one that told my sister to drive drunk #thatwouldbesomeguilt
Jaleayah’s family were able to obtain all of the evidence from her case through an FOIA request (Freedom of Information Act) & learned that there was blood on the front of Jaleayah’s car, in the passenger side wheel well & along the bottom of the passenger door. There was also blood inside a broken headlight, along the back roof of the car, down the back window & trunk of the car. There was a large bloody handprint on the inside of the driver’s door handle & armrest. Acceleration marks were leading away from a pool of blood on the road & her car had traveled uphill & around two curves in the road after she had been ejected. Her family also walked up the interstate & did not note any real damage to the guardrail where they were told her car had struck it.
The family was highly confused by the way Jaleayah’s clothing had been found over the guardrail. Other than being covered in blood, the white jacket Jaleayah wore was mostly intact except for the hood which had been ripped off & lay down an embankment on the other side of the guardrail. The sleeves of the jacket were also right side in vs. inside out as would be expected if it had been ripped from her body. It would have been expected that had the clothing been ripped off, the bra would have been on top, the tank top in the middle & the jacket on the bottom, but the opposite was found. The clothing had the appearance of having been placed in that location.
It was unclear to her family how Jaleayah was ejected from the passenger window & then onto the top of the car. There was also no blood found on the roof of the car other than toward the back near the rear window. How had the car continued to travel nearly a quarter of a mile of impact uphill? Tire marks on the road indicated that the car had accelerated after Jaleayah had been ejected which also didn’t make sense. They felt like the damage to the car was not consistent with the horrific extent of the accident. There was also no hair, fibers or blood found on the broken glass from the passenger window where Jaleayah was ejected.
Kristin told investigators that she overheard Jaleayah tell Taubie that she would tell her what happened when she saw her, however, Taubie indicated that Jaleayah said this during her call at 3:33 am which was only one minute after the timestamp from the McDonald’s footage of Freddie’s car in the drive-through. It also contradicts her statement that they left Brian’s house at 3:40 am.
Jaleayah’s family felt that her friends were not thoroughly investigated & their phones had not been searched. Kristin indicated that Freddie had driven them to McDonald’s after leaving Brian’s house with Jaleayah sitting in her car. Surveillance video did show images of Freddie’s car at the drive-through window about six miles from the crash scene. The video only depicts Freddie as the driver & there appeared to be one person in the passenger seat, one in the backseat, but it couldn’t confirm that the passengers were Kristin & Katy. The video was time-stamped at 3:32 am but the staff at McDonald’s indicated that it’s possible the time could have been off by a few minutes.
Katy gave a short written statement to police & overall, seemed to match what Freddie & Kristin said. After Freddie dropped the girls off at Kristin’s, Kristin & Taubi were speaking on the phone & Taubi indicated that Jaleayah had been in an accident, but she had no further details & Taubi kept ending the call. At 4:15 am her ex-boyfriend, Chris Lattimer picked her up & they spent the night together. It wasn’t until she woke up in the morning that she learned that Jaleayah had died.
Chris no longer lived in the area but had known Jaleayah since 9th grade. The two kept in touch & during his time at Nip N Cue, he hung out with Katy, Kristin & Jaleayah for the most part. He said that Jaleayah appeared to be rather intoxicated; she was wearing heels & seemed to be struggling & was falling all over the place. He didn’t think she was feeling well so he stayed with her so that she didn’t feel left out. He confirmed that he picked Katy up from Kristin’s sometime between 3:20-4 am & he asked her why Jaleayah wasn’t with them. Katy mentioned that she & Kristin had been arguing & Chris speculated that Kristin might be angry at Jaleayah for trying to talk to him while Katy was right there.
It is Jaleayah’s family’s belief that Jaleayah was murdered & it was covered up with the help of the sheriff’s department because several of the people Jaleayah was with that night have parents who are former local law enforcement officers. Kristin’s grandfather was a former sheriff for the very department that investigated Jaleayah’s case.
In June of 2018 a woman named Emily Nestor began investigating Jaleayah’s case & releasing episodes in real time for her podcast which she titled, Mile Marker 181. She lived just across the border in West Virginia from where Jaleayah lived in Marietta, Ohio. She began interviewing Jaleayah’s family who were adamant that this had been a murder & Kim shared over 700 pages of documents & photos with Emily. Soon, Emily’s podcast began to grow, she obtained sponsorship & started to make money. Filmmaker Chris Kasick got involved with Emily & began making a 2023 documentary about her & her work called Citizen Sleuth.
As her podcast continued through its second season, Emily began to stray from her murder theory in Jaleayah’s case & Chris Kasick indicated that in private, she spoke about how she felt that her death was an accident whereas, during the recording of her podcast, she pushed a murder theory. As the podcast continued, Emily said she felt like she was trying to put out content about something she didn’t believe. In the meantime, Jaleayah’s family accused her of exploiting their tragedy for personal gain.
Emily ended her Mile Marker 181 podcast after 23 episodes & eventually agreed with the ruling that Jaleayah’s death was accidental & related to drunk driving. Emily also made a post on her Facebook page which read:
Jaleayah Davis is not a martyr. Jaleayah Davis is not an example of police misconduct or cover up or brutality, or literally anything except what happens when you drive intoxicated. That’s the lesson. Not ‘cops protect their own.’ The lesson is ‘this is what will happen if you make the choice to drive a motor vehicle at a high rate of speed while highly intoxicated & you crash.’ It’s not a cover-up, it’s PHYSICS. It’s not there’s something more sinister going on behind the scenes, it’s that people sympathize with a grieving crying mom to a fault. I sure did & it won’t even be the last time.. Stop letting Kim Davis play you for an idiot. I did that grunt work for you.
Because of Emily’s sudden change of heart & speculated intentions with participating in the documentary, many people felt very negatively toward her.
Many within the area of Marietta believe that Jaleayah was met with foul play on the night she died. They believe that someone else could have been driving her car, they struck her body which caused her to strike her head on the guardrail post, fatally wounding her. As the car continued to drag her body, she continued to strike the following posts until the car stopped. The driver then accelerated at a high rate of speed with Jaleayah’s body still attached to the car driving away from the guardrail to the passing lane where he body was ultimately left. From the first post where she fatally struck her head to where her body was found was a span of more than 82 feet.
The family of Jaleayah Davis have opened a GoFundMe page to help cover the cost of an attorney to represent them in the battle of finding justice for Jaleayah. There is also a Justice for Jaleayah Facebook group, but in December 2023 the page was hacked & they have been unable to recover the contents of the initial site.
Regardless if you believe that Jaleayah’s death was accidental or a murder, we can only hope that her family will someday find peace & closure. There is a petition you can sign on Change.org that was started on May 17, 2020 & has over 16,000 signatures of a 25,000 goal.
References:
- The Marietta Times: Jaleayah Davis’ I-77 death is ruled accidental
- Facebook: Justice for Jaleayah
- gofundme: Justice for Jaleayah
- Independent: A podcaster set out to find the truth about a woman’s death. True crime fanatics came for her when she decided it wasn’t murder
- Texas Observer: True crime’s ethical dilemma
- Killer Queens: The death of Jaleayah Davis
- Black Girl Gone: A True Crime Podcast: The suspicious death of Jaleayah Davis
- Change.org: Petition – Justice for Jaleayah Davis
- WGTC: What happened to Jaleayah Davis? A deep dive into her mysterious death
- ID: Secrets in the cars
